Branislav Ivanovic finds the back of the net with a headed goal from inside the penalty box. Arsenal 3-1 Chelsea.Gael Kakuta fouled by Theo Walcott, the ref awards a free kick. Assist by Didier Drogba.

Match Preview

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger admits Marouane Chamakh's form has suffered due to a heavy workload.

Chamakh made a strong start to his debut season in the Barclays Premier League, but his influence has waned in recent weeks.

The 27-year-old free transfer from Bordeaux has failed to hit the target in his last three matches and Wenger must decide whether to rest him against Chelsea on Monday night.

With Robin van Persie ready to start and Nicklas Bendtner also available, Wenger has options should he decide Chamakh needs a break.

"Marouane has given a lot. He has played a lot on his own up front. He is a bit tired at the moment," Wenger said.

"He's used to having a winter break in France at this stage of the season. He has played nearly every game since the start of the season. He feels that he had a little dip physically, but he's working very hard in training to come back."

Arsenal have lost their last five matches against Chelsea, conceding 13 goals in the process.
The Premier League trophy has resided at Stamford Bridge three times since the Gunners last won the title in 2004 and Chelsea are the reigning champions.

But Wenger insists they can hold can hold their heads high against their London rivals, who sit two places lower in the table in fourth spot.

"Let's say we look at the number of points we have and we have nothing to envy," Wenger added.

"We just need to get over that hurdle of winning a trophy. As long as the team has not won one trophy, people wonder: 'Can we win?'.

"It's a mental thing. We have the quality, we are maybe a bit young, but not so much now. We still have to build a new team and manage to stay at the top.

"There are a lot of teams who would be happy where we are, but we want more and that's our purpose this season. Our target is to deliver and respond to the demands that people have."

John Terry has warned that Chelsea are ready to inflict another home humiliation on Arsenal.
The Barclays Premier League champions crushed the Gunners 3-0 at the Emirates Stadium last season and 4-1 in the previous campaign.

Last November's victory was widely described as "men against boys" and although Chelsea go into tomorrow's game on their worst run of league form for a decade, captain Terry believes a repeat performance is on the cards.

"We think we can go there and do what we did last year," he told his club's official website, www.chelseafc.com.

"If we're not thinking that, we shouldn't be playing."

Chelsea have won only one of their last seven league games and have not tasted victory in any competition for more than a month.

That was partly because of the postponement of last Sunday's home clash with Manchester United, who the Blues could find themselves six points behind when they take to the field on Monday.

Terry added: "Everyone is in the right frame of mind; it will be two weeks by the time the game comes around since we've played.

"We're raring to go and want to get off to a flying start."

Chelsea's miserable run has seen them slip from top spot to fourth in the table, a point behind Monday's opponents.
They have only found the net four times and kept just one clean sheet in that period, which coincided with injuries to key men Terry, Frank Lampard and Michael Essien.

But all their star names are back for Monday's game against a side who have scored plenty of goals but have been unable to keep them out at the other end.

Terry said: "Defensively they've conceded goals, and with our strikeforce and the threat we pose opposition sides all the time, one goal and a bit of confidence and everything is looking bright for us again.

"It just takes that one thing to set it off, and hopefully a goal away at Arsenal will do that, and we want to get back to keeping clean sheets."

However, manager Carlo Ancelotti does not believe Chelsea will find winning at the Emirates as easy as they did last term.

"I think Arsenal changed a little bit compared to last season," he said. They've improved their experience.
"I think that it could be a different game compared to last season."

Formation:433Manager: Arsene Wenger

Arsenal

Formation: 433Manager: Carlo Ancelotti

Chelsea

Lukasz Fabianski

Bacary Sagna

Laurent Koscielny

Johan Djourou

Gael Clichy

Alex Song

Francesc Fabregas

Jack Wilshere

Theo Walcott

Robin van Persie

Samir Nasri

SUBS

Wojciech Szczesny

Vassiriki Diaby

Tomas Rosicky

Sebastien Squillaci

Andrey Arshavin

Marouane Chamakh

Nicklas Bendtner

Home

Away

Petr Cech

Paulo Ferreira

Branislav Ivanovic

John Terry

Ashley Cole

Michael Essien

Mikel

Frank Lampard

Salomon Kalou

Didier Drogba

Florent Malouda

SUBS

Ross Turnbull

Ramires

Jose Bosingwa

Patrick Van Aanholt

Jeffrey Bruma

Gael Kakuta

Joshua McEachran

Match Report

Gunners end Chelsea hoodoo
Arsenal moved back to second place in the Barclays Premier League after finally beating title rivals Chelsea for the first time since November 2008 with a 3-1 victory at the Emirates Stadium.
The Gunners had lost each of their previous five matches against Chelsea, but Alex Song put them ahead before half-time, with quickfire strikes from captain Cesc Fabregas and Theo Walcott giving Arsene Wenger's side a three-goal cushion.
Chelsea reduced the deficit through Branislav Ivanovic, but there was no way back for Carlo Ancelotti's men, who have now taken just six points from their last eight league games - the club's worst run since 1998.
Arsenal, beaten at Manchester United in their previous game, were positive during the opening exchanges.
Robin van Persie almost collected Song's chip into the box, but the ball bounced just ahead of the Dutch striker.
There was a warning with Chelsea's first meaningful attack as Didier Drogba - with 13 goals in as many games against the Gunners - shrugged off his marker to drag a 20-yard shot wide.
John Terry pulled back Van Persie as the Gunners looked to break on the half-way line, but a stern talking-to from referee Mark Clattenburg was all the Chelsea skipper received.
The home side continued to press, and had a penalty appeal waved away when Florent Malouda looked to have made some contact with Van Persie at the edge of the box.
Nasri's 25-yard free-kick was on target, but held by Petr Cech.
Walcott latched on to a long ball over the Chelsea defence, but just as he aimed to cut back into the area, his touch was poor and Terry recovered to clear.
On 29 minutes, former Gunner Ashley Cole went into the referee's book for tripping Walcott as his England colleague turned him on the right touchline.
Van Persie was then put through into the left by Nasri after some clever one-touch passing, the Dutchman snatched at his angled shot, which flew high and wide.
Salomon Kalou was perhaps fortunate to receive only a yellow card after jumping in, studs up on Gael Clichy.
Arsenal increased the tempo as half-time approached.
Walcott scampered into the right side of the Chelsea penalty area and was blocked by Cech at the near post before the goalkeeper turned over Nasri's chip which was looping into the top-left corner.
The Gunners finally made the breakthrough after 43 minutes.
Jack Wilshere and Song exchanged passes on the edge of the area, with the Cameroon midfielder carrying the ball into the box.
Paulo Ferreira slid in and tripped Fabregas, but Song had the presence of mind not to wait for a whistle and swept a low left-footed shot across goal and into the bottom right corner.
Chelsea made a change at the start of the second half as the creative Brazilian Ramires replaced John Obi Mikel.
Arsenal, though, had a two-goal cushion after 51 minutes.
Van Persie held the ball up 30 yards out, and, as he was closed down, Michael Essien's challenge inadvertently pushed the ball straight to Walcott clean through on goal.
The England winger dashed to the edge of the box, where he drew Cech before sliding the ball along to Fabregas and the Arsenal skipper made no mistake from 15 yards.
Chelsea had little chance to recover, as Walcott smashed in goal number three just 90 seconds later.
Walcott robbed Malouda and fed Fabregas, who repaid the favour by sending the Arsenal winger away down the right for him to slot a low shot into the bottom left corner.
Ancelotti had to do something, and sent on Gael Kakuta, replacing Malouda.
Chelsea snatched a lifeline after 57 minutes when Drogba's free-kick floated through to the six-yard box, where it was nodded in by Ivanovic.
Given Arsenal's recent record of failing to hold on to winning positions, the visitors rallied.
Chelsea made a final change when Ferreira was replaced by Jose Bosingwa.
Arsenal just about weathered the storm as the contest entered the final 20 minutes.
Nasri should then have done better when Kakuta's tame back-pass presented him with the ball 10 yards from goal, but Cech was out quickly to block.
With 18 minutes left, Walcott was replaced by defensive midfielder Abou Diaby who made his first appearance since mid-October, before Marouane Chamakh came on for Van Persie.
Diaby's close-range effort was blocked by Frank Lampard and Kakuta's bundled effort was ruled out for offside as the Gunners closed out for a long-overdue victory against their championship rivals and moved within two points of leaders Manchester United, albeit having played a game more.